Conn Home or Small Church 2 manuals and pedals. Pedalboard Problem

[jaybeckham]

I have gutted the instrument and added Midi electronics and a third manual. Now I am working on the pedal board and trying to wire it. However, the springs in the pedal board or not providing any support for the pedals. I am wondering if the springs were actually built into the contacts that the small metal lever that is on the end of each pedal? I am not using those contracts and instead using Reed Switches and Magnets. Don't have the old contacts anymore and never had a manual. Can't even recall the model number but I have attached a photo with the third manual mounted. Any help would be appreciated.

[jbird604]

You need to adjust the pedal tension. The contacts in the console may have provided a VERY small amount of extra tension, but the reason for your drooping pedals is that the tension screws at the BACK end of each pedal stick need tightening. All pedal boards have some kind of adjustment back there, and the details differ, but you should see how it's done once you remove the flat or curved board that covers the rear end of the pedal sticks (the part that goes under the bench).

With that cover off, you will see that the back end of each pedal has a metal piece that holds it in place. There might be two screws going through the metal piece into the block of wood that constitutes the back member of the pedal unit. One or the other adjusts the tension of each pedal individually.

Tighten the appropriate screw just a little bit. Not too much, or you'll make the pedal too hard to depress, and you might even split the block of wood if you screwed all the pedals down too tightly. Just turn each screw enough to give the pedal some tension so that it stands all the way in the up position and presents some resistance to being pressed down, but not much. It is possible to use some kind of weights to actually measure the tension, but I just do it by hand. If you can easily push down the pedal by placing your hand in the area where your foot will touch it when you are playing, you'll know it's about right.